Monday, August 20, 2007

Saga has now been released in Germany. It already has two reviews at amazon.de, including this review by SciFi-Kenner (Österreich) which has been translated for us by Jessica-tanja Seid:

This time Conor Kostick shows in his new book "Saga" other aspects of
computer games. "Epic" was about politics and the consequences of a
certain kind of political behaviour, ít was about standing up for
one's beliefs and 'thinking out of the box'.
The last two points can be found in "Saga", too. Apart from that,
Conor Kostick introduces a philosophical theme: What if the universe
we live in is in fact merely a subuniverse of another universe? What
if that's what we perceive as 'reality' is in fact a series of
programmed events, which can be changed accordingly at any time - in
contrast to the laws of nature in our world. And what if the people
living in that subuniverse haven't realised yet that it merely is a
subuniverse?

This is a theme experienced sci-fi fans will know very well from books
like "Simulacrum" (the screen adaption is known as "The 13th floor"),
"Simulacra" or the "Matrix". Nonetheless, it is handled very well by
Kostick making it a gripping book for readers who like cyberpunk. It
may well be that readers who are not 'well-read' in terms of
science-fiction will have more difficulties in making sense of the
story than those who have already read books such as "Simulacrum" or
watched "Matrix".
In addition to that, a minor theme in "Saga" is the problem of being
addicted to computer games, something B.E. had been affected by in
"Epic" earlier.
Again, Eric helps to solve the problems in "Saga" as he did in "Epic".
This time however, not as a main character.
All in all, this is another book worth discussing and talking about.
Since both books, "Epic" and "Saga" are gripping for adults as well as
kids, it would be desirable that in particular parents, who keep
complainig about their children and the time they spend with playing
computer games, read these books. This night contribute to mutual
understanding!